Still life
by toomuchchampagne
Summary: Caroline, Stefan, and a full bowl of Forbidden Fruits. Life can't stay still forever. Stefan/Caroline OS "His eyes said much more, dark green and all-encompassing. In this instant, they didn't remind her of the ocean anymore, but of a forest. Dark, deep and wild."


**Disclaimer: I don't own TVD.**

**Author's note: So, I was re-reading _Lolita _and then I wrote this. Lolita is one of the best book ever written and it can't be blame if this story sucks. I just wanted to mix up some of the 'Forbidden Fruit' imagery with the Stefan/Caroline pairing, for some reason.**

**Anyway, enjoy and I hope you'll like it. And don't forget to leave a review, you know, it's that that thing at the end of the page :)  
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**Still life: (plural still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically fruits.**

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Fruits, a still life.

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x

There was nothing, she told herself, nothing between them. It was better that way, for everybody. He was Stefan, and he was bound to win Elena back, and she was Caroline, just Caroline, forever Caroline, best friend Caroline, always there.

And things were fine that way, truly. Flitting moments of doubt and longing were just that, moments. Besides, what was a flitting moment in an eternal life? All of them added up to dust, quickly forgotten in the long scheme of things.

Her mental bracing finished, Caroline stepped inside the Salvatore boardinghouse. She never knocked, and she knew that if she did so today, it wouldn't go unnoticed.

"Stefan?' she called out, but no one answered. "Stefan?"

The house was empty but for her. She had texted him earlier, and he was bound to meet her here sooner or later, so she waited. Caroline settled herself comfortably on the couch and was ready to play a vicious game of angry birds, when something on the table caught her eyes.

A fruit basket, how unusual, she thought. It looked like Spring and smelled even better. Apples, peaches and oranges, they gleamed in the bright light, tempting her. She was sure that if she yielded, it would only taste of nostalgia.

"Caroline, hey."

Without any warning, Stefan was there, right behind her. It wasn't fair, she needed time to prepare herself for him and the green ocean of his eyes, before it swallowed her whole.

"Hey."

"What are you looking at?" he asked, coming closer.

"Your fruits."

"Why?"

"I don't know. I guess it reminds me of being human. Alive."

"Yeah," he said, she could tell he knew exactly what she meant.

He came closer, and she could picture him, a long time ago, alive, devouring peaches in the summer, with the juice dribbling down his lips and onto his downright lick-able jaw.

"Fruits," he said, taking an expected apple out of the basket, "are the symbol of the cycle of life, the passing of the seasons. Flowers bloom, fruits grow and then they die, only for the cycle to be repeated again endlessly when winter ends."

"But we don't grow, or bloom, or die. We're still lifes."

"Well, that's depressing."

She looked up at him startled. His eyes seemed greener in the lush light of Spring."Really? I'm the depressing one, Mr Serious Vampire?"

He gave her that small laughing smile he only had with her, and handed her the apple. "Just eat the damn thing."

She didn't take it, but let his fingers linger over hers.

"I'm a vampire, not a vegan. I don't think we eat fruits."

"You're a predator, if that thing is pulling you down, just eat it."

She laughed and took it. "You're funny," she said, her sky blue eyes sparkling.

"No need to sound so surprised."

"Oh, I know you can be funny," she said, playing nervously with the apple in her hands., "but it's been some time since you actually have. Been funny, I mean. With all the Elena stuff lately, I get it. I'm just saying, it's good to see you like that."

She smiled up at him, a smile bright like a thousand Spring suns, making him bloom, grow and die inside, all at once. He was under her spring-spell. Sky blue met green ocean, and she could see the turmoil of emotion boiling under the waves.

"Well, maybe even still life can change," he said.

"How so?" she asked, wide-eyed.

"Just like the seasons. Something dies, so something new can be born."

He kissed her, before she could extract the meaning from his words. His lips were fresh and light against hers at first, but she kissed him back, bringing summer heat and tempestuous lust into it. She held him close and opened her mouth, eager to taste the lips forbidden to her for so long.

His arms slithered around her back, exploring and touching every parcel of her skin and making her shiver in delight. Their bodies entwined so, she could feel him grow against her, and it only made her want him more. So she told him.

"I want this," she said. "You. I want you. I have for—A long time. I don't know how long."

Her words came in raspy breaths in-between kisses.

"I want you too," he said in a rough whisper. His eyes said much more, dark green and all-encompassing. In this instant, they didn't remind her of the ocean anymore, but of a forest. Dark, deep and wild. Earthy. It brought her back to where she first saw the true Stefan, and not the calm sea he was hiding underneath. In the Mystic Falls woods, he had saved her more than once before, but he had always been out of reach then.

Now, his staring-into-her-soul eyes were an invitation into this Enchanted forest, this garden of Eden, and she was more than willing to get lost there.

He laid her across the table, discarding the fruit bowl. as his southbound mouth moved to taste a more interesting fruit, a forgotten apple rolled down the floor.

x

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